“I don’t know if it’s that much of match-up, it’s just that both times we’ve played them we have not showed up to play with an amount of enthusiasm and an amount of fire that we have every other game,” Carroll said.

“That’s the disappointing part. We are better than that. Some games we take off and today, both times against them, we took breaks.”

Despite dropping both games to D.H. Conley, White Oak is still alive for the conference title, given the Vikings defeated league leader Jacksonville 1-0 last week.

But for now Carroll’s main focus is for White Oak to improve. He wants his club to get better, particularly on the attack, which mustered just three shots on goal against DHC, including no shots in the first half.

The Vikings visit 1-A Southwest on Monday in a nonconference game featuring a pair of defending state champions.

“We just go to the next game,” he said. “We can’t look past any game. Being young up front and not having a lot of knowledge of how to get behind the defenders, we struggle with that. We have to try to keep improving in the middle of the field and just really continue to battle.”

A promising thing for the Vikings is the progress of midfielder Mary Gorry, White Oak’s only senior who has missed most of the season with an injured knee.

Gorry started Thursday and saw a few minutes in each half.

“This is the second time she’s played (since the injury),” Carroll said. “We are taking it very slowly. I’m giving her as many minutes to try to build her confidence up a little bit.”

D.H. Conley certainly entered this match with confidence, given its win over WOHS last month, although coach Shannon McLaughlin said the previous win didn’t mean much Thursday.

D.H. Conley was aggressive, and its intensity paid off with a goal just 2:06 into the game by Olivia Sandy.

“White Oak is always a strong team and always one to be reckoned with, and every team gets better throughout the season,” McLaughlin said. “We were coming in trying to play our best and trying to stay organized and focused. It was one that they wanted and I wanted.”

Page 2 of 2 - And D.H. Conley got what it wanted.

“We had never beaten White Oak before and to do it twice in one season is going to put the seniors out well,” McLaughlin said. “I have a large group of seniors and they all play very well together. The chemistry is very good.”

Sandy found the net again with 3:54 left in the second half to give DHC a 2-0 lead. She appeared to be D.H. Conley’s main target player.

“It was huge to get that second goal before halftime,” McLaughlin said.

Down 2-0, White Oak made things interesting with 8:06 left in the game when it cut its deficit in half on a goal by Rachel Krueger. She was credited with the goal after her corner kick from the left side deflected off a defender and went in.

White Oak pushed hard for another goal, but was denied. D.H. Conley then iced the game with 1:29 left after Morgan Brown scored on a rebound after a long free kick from Megan Jones was tipped up by White Oak goalie MaryKate Helms.

“We actually played a little harder in the second half,” Carroll said. “I felt we could get more opportunities. But it just seemed to die down again. It’s late in the season for that to happen.”